Martin Van Buren had previously been president, having formerly been elected as a Democrat.

The derogatory term "spoiler" emerged after the 1848 election. Democrats called the Free Soilers "Free Spoilers" because the Free Soil Party, which gained more than 10 percent of the vote, appealed so greatly to antislavery Democrats.

Although the Prohibition Party never obtained the presidency, its primary issue of prohibiting alcohol became the law of the land with the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The amendment went into effect on 17 January 1920.

The nationwide prohibition of alcohol ended with the passage of the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified on 5 December 1933, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment.